Pressure-cooker



A. R. THOMPSON.

PRESSURE COOKER.

APPLICATION FILED Inc. a, 1920.-

Patnted Nov. 29, 1921.

v I N VEN TOR //%M- 2 Y/M/M WITNESS v EIQM flap/ /ZMZ A TTORNE YS nni'rao stares earner castes.

ALBERT'R. THOMPSON, or sen JOSE, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR To annnnison- BABNGROVER MFG. CALIFORNIA.

CO., OFSAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, A CGBPQRATION OF PRESSURE-COOKER.

incense.

To all w/zom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT R. THOMP- soN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at San Jose, in the county of Santa Clara and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pressure-Cookers, of which the following is a,

specification.

My invention relates to that class of cookers used in the canning art, in which the treatment of the canned goods is carried out in a fluid-tight chamber under fluid pressure, generally of'steam.

In pressure cookers of this type,.especial attention is necessarily directed to the valves which control the entrance of the cans to, and their exit from the treating chamber, for the reason that such valves must not only handle the cans, permitting and etfecting their introduction into the chamber and their discharge therefrom, but must also be of such a nature as to prevent the release of internal pressure by the escape and loss of the steam.

An approved type of valve usedin this connection comprises a shell having separate communications with the cooking chamber and with the outer air, and a rotating valve member closely fitted in the shell and having a peripheral series of can-receiving pockets adapted to register successively with said communications, so thata can may be received from without and be delivered into the chamber, as in the case of the inlet valve, or the reverse, as in the case of the outlet valve.

the outgoing pockets are practically filled.

by the cans. Consequently it has been proposed, in the case of the inlet valve to bypass the steam confined in pockets leaving the cooker-chamber communication, into the pockets approaching said communication, with the idea of carrying said steam back into the cooker. This, however, is not very effective for the obvious reason that the pockets approaching the cooker chamber communication are practically filled by the cans which they are carrying to said chamber and they have, therefore, but little. capacityfor the by-passed steam; so that even with this expedient the greater portion of the pocketed steam is still lost.

My invention while contemplating the return to the cooker chamber of the pocketed steam in the inlet valve, reaches this end throughthe'association of the inlet and out- Patented Nov. 29, 11921. Application filed December 6, 1920. Serial No.428,556.

let valves, and the passing of the pocketed J steam from the receding can-empty pockets of the inlet valve into theapproaching canempty pockets of the outlet valve thereby providing ample capacity for the transfer of the steam and the return of practically its full volume to the cooker chamber.

To this end my invent-ion consists in the novel improvement in a cooker which I shall now fully describe by reference to the accoinpanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal section, broken, of a cooker, showing its inlet and outlet valves and the by-passes between said valves.

Fig. 2 is a'section on the line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3'3 of Fig. 1, looking in thedirection of the arrows.

1 indicates the box or tank of the cooker the interior structure of which with respect to its can-path and means for advancing the cans therethrough, and with respect to its heating medium need not be shown, as such structure forms no part of my present invention. It is sufficient only to indicate its can-inlet opening at 2and its can outlet opening at 3.

Secured to the box at its inlet opening 2 and communicating with the interior of said box through said opening is a shell twhich at its top has an opening 5, Fig. 2,with which communicates a can-feedindicated by the chute 6. Within the shell 4- is the valve member 7, closely fitted and formed with a peripheral series of can-receiving pockets 7 The valve-member 7 is carried upon and is rotated by a shaft 8, the driving connections of which need not be shown. By the rotation of the member 7, the direction of rotation being indicated in Fig. 2, by the arrow, the pockets 7 successively register with the top feed opening 5 and with the inlet opening 2 into the cooker box, so that a can fed to a pocket at the top is carried around and dropped below into the cooking chamber.

At the can outlet opening 3 of the cooker box is secured a shell 9 communicating below with the box opening 8, and at any point above with a delivery chute 10 through an opening 11, Fig. 3.

means unnecessary to show, into successive pockets as they register with said opening and are carried up, to and discharged into the delivery chute 10 through the shell opening 11.

Between the two shells 4 and 9 of the in let and outlet valves respectively is a pipe 14. One'end ofthis pipe opens into the shell 4 on the side within which the pocketsof the valve-member 7 are uprising; and the other end of the pipe opens into the shell 9 on the side within which the pockets of the valve member 12 are. descending. There may be one orrmore of these pipes 14- separated by the inter pocket space, so that one or more pockets of the associated valves may be bypassed. I have, for illustration, shown two such pipes 14. It will now be seenthat, in operation, the cans fed by the chute 6 will be carried down by the descending pockets 7 of the'inlet valve member 7 and successively dropped into the cooker chamber. Each pocket as it drops its can will be filled with steam from the chamber and this steam will be confined in the uprising pocket until said pocket reaches the communication with the pipe 14, whereupon the steam will pass through said pipe and enter a descending empty pocket 12 of the outlet valve member 12, and will by said pocket be carried down into the cooker chamber. The use of plural bypasses 14 provides for a full distribution of pressure and volume between plural pockets of the associated valves.

I claim:

'1. In a cooker, and in combination with its heating box, a can-feed valve and a candischarge valve associated with said box, and means for conveying fluid heating-medium withdrawn from the box by the canteed valve, into the can-discharge valve to be returned to the box by said last named valve.

,2. In a cooker and in combination with itsheating box, an inlet valve adapted to receive cans from without and to transfer them into said box; an outlet valve adapted to receive cans from said box and to transfer themto the outside; and a by-pass member between the two valves adapted to convey fluid heating-medium of said box, caught in the inlet valve, to the outlet valve to be returned by said last named valve into the heating box.

3. In a cooker, and in combination with its heating box, a rotatable chambered inlet valve adapted to receive cans from without and to transfer them into said box; a rotatable chambered outlet valve adapted to receive cans from said box and to transfer them to the outside; and a by-pass pipe between thetwo valves adapted to convey fluid heating-medium of said box, caught in the chamber of the inlet valve, to the chamber of the outlet valve to be returned by said last named valve into the heating box.

4. In a cooker, and in combination with its heating box, a can-inlet valve-structure comprising a valve shell communicating with said box and a rotatable valve-member fitted in said shell and provided with a peripheral' pocket adapted to receive and convey a can into the box; a can-outlet valvestructurecomprising a valve shell communicating with said box and a rotatable valvemember fitted in said'shell and provided with a peripheral pocket adapted'to receive a can from the box and convey it to the out" side; and a by-pass pipe connecting the shellof the inlet-valve-structure on its side in which its valve-member-pocket is receding from the box, with the shell of the outlet-valve-stri'icture on its'side in'which its valve-member pocket is approaching the box, whereby fluid heating medium from the box caught in the receding can-empty pocket of the inlet valve member is conveyed to the approaching can-empty pocket of the outlet valve member and returned thereby to the box In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ALBERT R. THOMPSON. 

